Thread: Best starter book
Hey Group; I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter book. I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. -- 73 de Donn Washburn 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador " http://counter.li.org " #279316
Am 21.05.2010 17:11, schrieb Donn Washburn: > I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter > book. > I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. As allways ... it depends on what you need to know. The documentation of PG is really good. If you are allready a db guru then you should be happy with it. As you are asking this question in the novice forum you might as well never been working with an dbms at all. Probaply you have some existing application that should store its data with PG as backend where you personally wouldn't need to know much besides of setting things up and making a backup now and then. Maybe you expect something like MS-Access that has a powerfull frontend or maybe you know what a rdbms is but want to learn SQL? What will it be?
At the risk of sounding completely dumb and non-responsive, I strongly suggest reading the postgres documentation which includes a tutorial. I also find SQL Cookbook by Molinaro to an extremely useful reference. The power of postgres is contained in no small part by its strong regular expression features. For that I recommend the "bible" Friedl's Regular Expression book from O'Reilly. The study of regular expressions rewards 10-fold every moment it consumes. 73, John On May 21, 2010, at 5:11 PM, Donn Washburn wrote: > Hey Group; > > I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good > starter book. > I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. > > -- > 73 de Donn Washburn > 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " > Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 > Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " > VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg > BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador > " http://counter.li.org " #279316 > > > -- > Sent via pgsql-novice mailing list (pgsql-novice@postgresql.org) > To make changes to your subscription: > http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-novice
On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 8:11 AM, Donn Washburn <n5xwb@comcast.net> wrote: > I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter book. > I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. I like these two books: http://www.amazon.com/Celkos-Programming-Kaufmann-Management-Systems/dp/0120887975 http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Celkos-Smarties-Third-ebook/dp/B000VSP2PE/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 -- Regards, Richard Broersma Jr. Visit the Los Angeles PostgreSQL Users Group (LAPUG) http://pugs.postgresql.org/lapug
On 05/21/2010 11:22 AM, Andreas wrote: > Am 21.05.2010 17:11, schrieb Donn Washburn: >> I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter >> book. >> I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. > > As always ... it depends on what you need to know. Basically the setup of Postgres - password, users and then likely. I am a Linux compTIA Linux+ certified person and have never needed a true DB. So that is where I am looking > > The documentation of PG is really good. > If you are allready a db guru then you should be happy with it. > > As you are asking this question in the novice forum you might as well > never been working with an dbms at all. > This is basically true. I have had UNIX FilePro+ or Profile back in the 1980s. I did build our business software using FilePro+ > Probaply you have some existing application that should store its data > with PG as backend where you personally wouldn't need to know much > besides of setting things up and making a backup now and then. > > Maybe you expect something like MS-Access that has a powerfull > frontend or maybe you know what a rdbms is but want to learn SQL? Yes likely closer to FilePro but I only use or have Linux. No MS anything here. I have setup MySQL and used phpMyAdmin. However, it does offer a message tell you how to setup a password > > What will it be? > -- 73 de Donn Washburn 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador " http://counter.li.org " #279316
This is an example of the problem. I went to http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/ and started looking at everything until /tutorial-createdb.html. Where it states createdb. I get as a (system user)donn@m1l-suse:~> createdb mydb createdb: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL: Ident authentication failed for user "donn" The attached file show postmaster is working. I assume this is a security/ issue with a lack of password. Or maybe a /etc/groups problem On 05/21/2010 10:48 AM, Michael Gould wrote: > Donn, > > There are not a lot of books available and most of them just rehash for the > most part what is in he documentation. You can get the "standard" doc's in > printed format. I've found that between the documentaton which on a scale > of 1-10 I would rate about a 7 and the answers in the email groups, you'll > find that overall support is many times better than a commerical software. > They have a robot named Tom Lane who isin the groups. I say robot because I > see that he answers items what seems like 24 hours a day so I know he can't > be a real person as he can't sleep. :) > > Best Regards > > Mike Gould > > "Donn Washburn"<n5xwb@comcast.net> wrote: > >> Hey Group; >> >> I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter >> > book. > >> I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. >> >> -- >> 73 de Donn Washburn >> 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " >> Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 >> Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " >> VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg >> BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador >> " http://counter.li.org " #279316 >> >> >> > > -- 73 de Donn Washburn 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador " http://counter.li.org " #279316
Attachment
Donn Washburn <n5xwb@comcast.net> writes: > This is an example of the problem. > I went to http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/ and started > looking at everything until /tutorial-createdb.html. Where it states > createdb. > I get as a (system user)donn@m1l-suse:~> createdb mydb > createdb: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL: Ident > authentication failed for user "donn" Well, the reason you're not likely to find this covered as the first item in any Postgres book is that it's specific to particular configurations. Evidently you have got an installation that sets up "ident" as the standard login authentication method, which is common in Linux packagings of PG but it's not the factory default. Anyway ident insists (by default, again) that your OS-level user name match the database user name you're trying to log in as. Now since you don't have a database user named "donn", that fails. The only database user you do have, most likely, is postgres. So the first thing you want to do is something like sudo su - postgres createuser donn ^D and now you'll be able to connect as user donn. NB: createuser will ask whether to make donn a superuser, which you probably want if you're just playing around. regards, tom lane
As Tom explained in his post the error results from the way authentication is configured in PG's data directory. I think OpenSuse sets it here /var/lib/pgsql In pg_hba.conf you can define how a client has to authenticate devided in 3 zones coming through local (default) or via network port 5432 either on localhost or on the external interface. You created the database "mydb". In Suse's default setting only the unix user "mydb" or a db-superuser can access this db and there has to be a db-usere "mydb", too. You might install pgAdmin as managing tool. It's a binary application available for Linux and Windows. It should be in the OpenSuse repository. http://www.pgadmin.org/ Then there is a web-application phpPgAdmin if you like that better. Am 21.05.2010 19:36, schrieb Donn Washburn: > This is an example of the problem. > > I went to http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/ and started > looking at everything until /tutorial-createdb.html. Where it states > createdb. > > I get as a (system user)donn@m1l-suse:~> createdb mydb > createdb: could not connect to database postgres: FATAL: Ident > authentication failed for user "donn" > > The attached file show postmaster is working. I assume this is a > security/ issue with a lack of password. Or maybe a /etc/groups problem > > > > On 05/21/2010 10:48 AM, Michael Gould wrote: >> Donn, >> >> There are not a lot of books available and most of them just rehash >> for the >> most part what is in he documentation. You can get the "standard" >> doc's in >> printed format. I've found that between the documentaton which on a >> scale >> of 1-10 I would rate about a 7 and the answers in the email groups, >> you'll >> find that overall support is many times better than a commerical >> software. >> They have a robot named Tom Lane who isin the groups. I say robot >> because I >> see that he answers items what seems like 24 hours a day so I know he >> can't >> be a real person as he can't sleep. :) >> >> Best Regards >> >> Mike Gould >> >> "Donn Washburn"<n5xwb@comcast.net> wrote: >>> Hey Group; >>> >>> I have openSuSE 11.3 M7 version pf 8.4. What would be a good starter >> book. >>> I will be using pgsql as a small business DB. >>> >>> -- >>> 73 de Donn Washburn >>> 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " >>> Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 >>> Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " >>> VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg >>> BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador >>> " http://counter.li.org " #279316 >>> >>> >> > > > > >
On 5/21/2010 11:11 AM, Donn Washburn wrote: > What would be a good starter book. I looked at several PostgreSQL-specific books about a year ago, and picked this one: Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Databases-PostgreSQL-Novice-Professional/dp/1590594789 This is an intelligently written database intro book that covers both general database topics and PostgreSQL-specific topics. I had Oracle and MySQL experience beforehand, but still found this book quite useful. It is true now that I generally refer to the documentation. Dan
On 05/22/2010 10:51 AM, Dan Halbert wrote: > On 5/21/2010 11:11 AM, Donn Washburn wrote: >> What would be a good starter book. > > I looked at several PostgreSQL-specific books about a year ago, and > picked this one: > Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL: From Novice to Professional, > Second Edition > http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Databases-PostgreSQL-Novice-Professional/dp/1590594789 > > > This is an intelligently written database intro book that covers both > general database topics and PostgreSQL-specific topics. I had Oracle > and MySQL experience beforehand, but still found this book quite > useful. It is true now that I generally refer to the documentation. > > Dan > > Well thanks to all that replied. I did order one of these books and we will see how it goes. I do much better at looking at printed pages than the screen -- 73 de Donn Washburn 307 Savoy Street Email:" n5xwb@comcast.net " Sugar Land, TX 77478 LL# 1.281.242.3256 Ham Callsign N5XWB HAMs : " n5xwb@arrl.net " VoIP via Gizmo: bmw_87kbike / via Skype: n5xwbg BMW MOA #: 4146 - Ambassador " http://counter.li.org " #279316
Dan Halbert wrote: > On 5/21/2010 11:11 AM, Donn Washburn wrote: > >> What would be a good starter book. >> > > I looked at several PostgreSQL-specific books about a year ago, and > picked this one: > Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL: From Novice to Professional, Second > Edition > http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Databases-PostgreSQL-Novice-Professional/dp/1590594789 > > This is an intelligently written database intro book that covers both > general database topics and PostgreSQL-specific topics. I had Oracle and > MySQL experience beforehand, but still found this book quite useful. It > is true now that I generally refer to the documentation. > > Dan > > > I concur. I also used the same book, the book was very useful to me. -- Mladen Gogala Sr. Oracle DBA 1500 Broadway New York, NY 10036 (212) 329-5251 www.vmsinfo.com
> http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Databases-PostgreSQL-Novice-Professional/dp/1590594789 Which version of PostgreSQL is covered in this book? Regards, Jayadevan DISCLAIMER: "The information in this e-mail and any attachment is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If you have received this e-mail in error, kindly contact the sender and destroy all copies of the original communication. IBS makes no warranty, express or implied, nor guarantees the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information contained in this email or any attachment and is not liable for any errors, defects, omissions, viruses or for resultant loss or damage, if any, direct or indirect."
It's mostly not version specific, but it does cover version 8. There is nothing about sub-query factoring and the window functions, so it doesn't cover version 8.4. I would still recommend it, though. Jayadevan M wrote: > http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Databases-PostgreSQL-Novice-Professional/dp/1590594789 > Which version of PostgreSQL is covered in this book? > Regards, > Jayadevan > > > > > > DISCLAIMER: > > "The information in this e-mail and any attachment is intended only for > the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or > privileged material. If you have received this e-mail in error, kindly > contact the sender and destroy all copies of the original communication. > IBS makes no warranty, express or implied, nor guarantees the accuracy, > adequacy or completeness of the information contained in this email or any > attachment and is not liable for any errors, defects, omissions, viruses > or for resultant loss or damage, if any, direct or indirect." > > > > > > > -- Mladen Gogala Sr. Oracle DBA 1500 Broadway New York, NY 10036 (212) 329-5251 www.vmsinfo.com
Try this one... 'PostgreSQL' by Korry Douglas and Susan Douglas (ISBN 0-672-32756-2)
On 05/21/2010 01:08 PM, gargoyle60 wrote: > Try this one... > > 'PostgreSQL' by Korry Douglas and Susan Douglas (ISBN 0-672-32756-2) > > I have enjoyed the Apress book "Beginning Databases with PostgreSQL" by Neil Mathew and Richard Stones